


sugar, we went down

by chameleonmikey



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Internet Friends, M/M, Multi, Secret Santa, Tumblr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:56:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 15,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2846831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chameleonmikey/pseuds/chameleonmikey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It took Luke 20 minutes of angry cursing and deep thinking to finally find an available username he liked: sugarwewentdown. Deciding on a username didn’t make the annoying stuff finish. Tumblr forced him into following five blogs and insisted on giving him a ‘tour,’ which okay, would probably have been helpful, but was super fucking annoying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grace_the_ace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grace_the_ace/gifts).



> so this was written for a 5sos secret santa thing - http://5sos-secretsanta.tumblr.com/. i chose the prompt:  
> 'Tumblr lovin, having a blast! Four insignificant blogs with like ten followers each meet and love happens (can be OT4 can be two pairings) and they gain a bunch of followers because theyre funny and in love and can sing and there is a lack of this on their dashboard'  
> written for http://damnitimqueer.tumblr.com/.  
> talk to me on my own tumblr @ chameleonmikey.  
> thnx to ellie+becci for proofreading this and helping out.

Username required. Luke scrunched up his nose and clicked on the text box. ‘WaywardCycleCycle’ popped up as a suggestion.   
“What the fuck does that even mean…” Luke said to himself. He deleted the text and returned his hands to his lap. What did normal people have as their usernames? After sitting there thinking for a while, Luke decided to just look up Fall Out Boy lyrics. 

It took Luke 20 minutes of angry cursing and deep thinking to finally find an available username he liked: sugarwewentdown. Deciding on a username didn’t make the annoying stuff finish. Tumblr forced him into following five blogs and insisted on giving him a ‘tour,’ which okay, would probably have been helpful, but was super fucking annoying. 

By the time Luke was finally free to do his own thing on the website, it was 1 in the morning.  
“Shit,” Luke said to himself. He had unil in the morning and didn’t have much motivation to do anything else, so he shut his laptop and went to bed. 

The next day, the first thing Luke did when he got home was go onto Tumblr. It had annoyed him all day that he spent all that time setting up last night and he hadn’t even been on the website properly yet. 

Half an hour later, and that was still the case. Luke had updated his banner to a picture of All Time Low during a concert and his icon to a selfie of his. He wasn’t sure if that was what you were supposed to do, but he looked pretty damn cute in that photo. He spent about ten minutes trying to think of a description and ended up going with ‘Luke, Australia, 18. I like bands.’

From the blogs he had been forced into following, on his dash there was a little Paramore, some The 1975, Fall Out Boy here, Misfits, All Time Low, The Pretty Reckless there. Nothing particularly jumped out at him, so Luke went into the tags. ‘Paramore.’ 

Scrolling down, Luke saw countless HQ pictures of Hayley Williams rocking out on stage. It wasn’t until he saw a shitty camera phone photo of a Paramore concert that he was actually interested. It was posted by ‘doitjustlikeyou’ with the caption ‘best night of my life.’ Luke smiled, knowing how great concerts were. He himself had been to Good Charlotte and a couple others. 

He clicked on the blog and was taken to a black themed blog that consisted of most of the bands Luke loved. There was some porn and corny jokes scattered in between, but Luke decided he could live with that. The description made Luke laugh which was the deciding factor on whether to follow or not. 

“I’m Calum, 18, and I live in the down undah. Hayley Williams is my queen and she bows down to me ;)” 

Luke hit the follow button and went back to his dashboard. There were a few new posts which was surprising since Luke followed exactly 6 blogs now and he was excited to see the username doitjustlikeyou accompanying the posts. He was just reblogging a photo from a The 1975 concert when a notification popped up down the bottom saying that doitjustlikeyou had followed him. It was followed a couple moments later by a message. 

From doitjustlikeyou: “Hi!!! Thanks for following me! Nice to meet you luke :)”   
Luke grinned, pleased he was actually getting noticed, at least a little. On twitter, he had been forgotten about more than the drummer. He bit his lip, playing with his lip ring, while he figured out how to reply. 

“hey!! no problem mate nice to meet you too calum :))”   
Luke thought ‘answer privately’ was probably like direct message so that’s what he went with.   
He returned to his dash and went into the tag for good charlotte, hoping to find a couple more blogs to follow. He had just finished inspecting and following the first couple blogs recommended in the tag when he saw Calum had messaged him back. 

From doitjustlikeyou: “hey so u have pretty good taste in music! well done on that bro”  
Luke laughed. He took that as one of the highest compliments he could be given. Music was his life. He replied to Calum telling him the same - because, from what he could see, their taste was exactly the same. 

By the end of the week, Luke had a total of eight followers and talked to Calum every day. They had become the kind of tumblr friends that Luke saw on his dash: the friends who tagged each other in posts and replied to each other in public as well as in asks. 

doitjustlikeyou: so i just found out im failing math :/// 

Luke’s url was tagged at the bottom as well as another url that Luke didn’t pay attention to. He clicked reblog and replied with ‘i can tutor u my moms totally a teacher.’   
Luke received an ask barely a minute later which consisted of Calum yelling at him in capital letters because THIS IS NOT A JOKE LUCAS. Luke privately answered with a selfie on him poking out his tongue. Calum responded with a photo of him pulling the finger. Luke laughed out loud before tagging Calum in a goodnight post. Not that he had any followers to see it. 

Going to sleep that night was hard because Luke found himself thinking about the selfie Calum sent him. The photo was focused on him pulling the finger, but you could see his face, and the pout his full lips were making and Luke just really wanted to meet Calum.


	2. Chapter 2

From doitjustlikeyou: luKE U JUST REBLOGGED A LEAGUE OF LEGENDS POST!!!!  
Reply: uhhhh yea??? im sorry?? 

From doitjustlikeyou: dont be sorry???//? just message my friend hollyturnedmeon i know him in rl and hes just like us buT ALSO LOVES LOL AND I DONT SO  
Reply: oh ive seen u tag him!!! i think i maybe followed him hold on

To doitjustlikeyou: dude we’re already mutuals hold on im gonna message him this is gonna be awks. 

To hollyturnedmeon: hi im luke im friends with calum he says youre awesome  
Answered: hollyturnedmeon: awh callie said that about me? what a dick hes totally right

Luke laughed. He went on Michael’s blog to reply but got distracted. The description was to the point. ‘Michael. 18. Oz (not the wonderful land.)’ There was a link called ‘selfie’ and Luke clicked it. Due to him sudden constant tumblr-ing, Luke’s internet was running kind of slow. The page took a couple minutes to fully load, but when it did, Luke was glad he waited. 

There was a handful of selfies posted, all with one note - probably from Calum. A couple had a few notes, but those were the ones with obnoxious tags like ‘coloured hair’ and ‘guys.’ Luke didn’t really care about the notes though. It’s his face Luke takes notice in. 

Michael has bright red lips and, in almost every photo, sticking his tongue out. Luke scolds himself for staring at a picture particularly focused on Michael’s mouth for longer than necessary. His eyebrows are thick and his eyes are slightly sunk in, and are a beautiful green colour. Michael’s hair is bright red, almost the colour Luke’s face has gone while looking at the photos, but the colour changes as Luke scrolls down more. Orange, White, Purple, Green. There’s a couple selfies with Calum and Luke finds those are his favourite. 

Finally, Luke reaches the end of the selfies. Michael seems to love posting them, and Luke can’t blame him, considering how good looking Michael is. Pretending he isn’t being totally creepy, Luke saves a photo of Michael and Calum together to his desktop and goes back to messaging Michael. 

To hollyturnedmeon: dude your hair is awesome  
Answered: hollyturnedmeon: thanks!! im running out of hair to dye tho :// you would totally look good with black hair! but your blonde is good too. angelic. 

Luke felt himself blushing at the idea of Michael stalking his face page. He was just glad he hadn’t posted that dorky ass photo his friend Aleisha had taken of him the other day like he thought about doing. 

Black hair… No, Luke’s mom wouldn’t let him. But if Michael really wanted it, Luke could see himself maybe giving in. Luke and Michael spent the rest of the night messaging back and forth until Luke couldn’t see the computer screen, it was so blurry.


	3. Chapter 3

hollyturnedmeon: what coloUR DO I DYE MY HAIR NEXT  
(tagged: pls help, doitjustlikeyou, sugarwewentdown)

doitjustlikeyou replied to hollyturnedmeon’s post:what coloUR DO I DYE MY HAIR NEXT  
[ i see a bald spot  
(tagged: hollyturnedmeon, sugarwewentdown, replies)

you replied to doitjustlikeyou’s post:i see a bald spot  
[ black ;)))))))  
(tagged: hollyturnedmeon, doitjustlikeyou, replies) 

hollyturnedmeon replied to your post: black ;)))))))  
[ i haTE BOTH OF U SO MUCH  
(tagged: im fckn srs jump off a cliff, specially u column, sugarwewentdown, doitjustlikeyou, replies)


	4. Chapter 4

Luke knew it was cheesy. He just couldn’t help himself. 

sugarwewentdown: happy two month friendiversary to the squad  
(tagged: cheesy af, dont judge me, doitjustlikeyou, hollyturnedmeon, squad)

Calum reblogged the post with a selfie of him and Michael smiling wildly. Luke laughed and reblogged the post. Seeing photos of Calum and Michael together or hearing about things they did together always made Luke sad because it reminded him they could see each other whenever they wanted and he couldn’t. 

He guessed it wasn’t that bad though. They had skyped a few times and Calum and Michael always made him feel included and whenever one of them tagged the other in a post, Luke’s url was always there too. They never once made Luke feel out of place and he appreciated that so much more than they knew. 

So they had been best internet friends for two months now (starting from when it was Michael, Luke, and Calum, not just Luke and Calum, or Michael and Calum.) Despite the age of his blog, Luke still had 15 followers. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong, but frankly, he couldn’t find it in himself to care about his follower count. On tumblr, he got to see and hear things from his favourite bands, and interact with his best friends, and that was all Luke really cared about. 

From doitjustlikeyou: skype in twenty minutes? mikes taking a dump  
Reply: k.

From doitjustlikeyou: i cant believe u just k dotted me  
Reply: deal with it

Luke went back to his dash but it was at that awkward time in America where it was too late for anyone to be still awake and too early for anyone to be newly awake, so his dash was dead. God, Luke hated living in Australia sometimes. He went into the tags like he normally did when this happened. 

‘mayday parade’

It was filled with shitty edits and other bands, and like always, Luke regretted going in their tag. He kept scrolling though, resting his cheek in his palm, squishing his face upwards. He could see his reflection on his laptop screen and stopped to take a snapchat selfie to send to Calum and Michael before scrolling down more. 

Shitty edit, concert photo, fall out boy, shitty edit, shitty edit, quality lyric edit. Fan phot-woah. ‘with alex last night!!!!! concert was fucking amazing!!!!!’ A blog had posted a selfie with Alex Garcia, the lead guitarist, but it wasn’t Alex that took Luke’s interest. The fan had dimples, which totally drove Luke crazy, amazingly curly hair, and a smile that looked like sunshine. 

Luke dragged his eyes away from the photo to the url. crrynmywywrdsn. He clicked on the blog, eyes frantically darting across the screen until he found the link ‘face :).’

The page took a couple minutes to load and Luke jittered his right leg up and down the whole time. It finally loaded and Luke’s breath was stolen. In every single photo, the boy was smiling his teethy sunshine smile. He was 100% adorable. In some he had glasses, in some he was pulling the punk rock hand symbol, and in some, he was sitting on a drum kit, all of which was incredibly hot. 

Luke was totally confused by how each selfie only had one or two likes. The selfies only lasted two pages and Luke was forced to actually look at the blog. He hit home page.   
‘hey im ash from aussie. pretty much a 20 year old kangaroo :D i also like drumming.’  
Oh, God, his description was as adorable as he looked. 

The blog itself consisted of photos of bands Luke, Calum, and Michael all liked, as well as recent ‘update’ photos from the guy - Ash - camping out for two days for Mayday Parade. Luke didn’t even need to think about whether to hit the follow button or not. Calum tried to call him twice over Skype, but Luke hit decline both times. After half an hour of surfing Ash’s blog, Luke went back to his dash to a message from Michael. 

From hollyturnedmeon: calum kicked me out of his house when i told him to chill about u not answering skype love you  
Reply: shit sorry i was distracted

From hollyturnedmeon: its alg i was gonna leave soon anyway. distracted with???? WHATS MORE IMPORTANT THAN UR BAES  
Reply: pls never use that word mikey pls. and i just found an interesting blog

From hollyturnedmeon: yeah? link?   
Reply: http://crrynmywywrdsn.tumblr.com/ 

While Luke waited for Michael to finish looking at Ash’s tumblr, he scrolled down his still considerably dead dash. He was just admiring a post consisting of female band members when a notification popped down the bottom. It wasn’t a fat one like the notifications telling Luke know one of the boys answered his ask/asked his a question, so he was confused for a moment. He barely ever got things reblogged from him or new followers. 

‘crrynmywywrdsn followed you’ 

Holy shit. Holy shit. Shit yeah. Luke smiled so wide his face hurt. Ash had followed him! Ash had probably looked at his blog and said ‘hey I like that!’ Ash had maybe looked at his face page… 

From hollyturnedme: damn sunshine boy is hot  
Reply: he juST FOLLOWED ME!!!!!!!

From hollyturnedmeon: what is he like ur 4th follower ahahhahhaha (congrats babe)  
Reply: rude

Luke couldn’t function for a couple minutes. He was too busy freaking out about Ash following him and Michael calling him babe.


	5. Chapter 5

Luke got home from uni the next day to an ask. It wasn’t that unusual - Michael and Calum were always on when he got home - but when he clicked on it, he was extremely confused to see it wasn’t either of them.

From crrynmywywrdsn: hi!!!! thanks for following me :) :) :) how has your day been? i hope its been great - ashton :D

Luke couldn’t believe it. Ash had messaged him. Ash was a wonderfully adorable human being. Ash was called Ashton. Really, Luke didn’t know how he didn’t assume that, but he hadn’t really thought about it. Ashton really suited the boy. 

He sat there for ten minutes trying to think about how to reply. He had had the same problem with both Calum and Michael when they first started talking, but now Luke was comfortable with them. Maybe a little bit more than comfortable. So, Luke hated being back to nervousness with asks. 

Luke ended up going with ‘hey there!! no problem i love your blog :) thanks for making it a mutual thing!!! my day was great. i just got home from uni. how about your day??’ 

Luke had just answered Calum’s new ask when Ash - Ashton messaged him again. 

From crrynmywywrdsn: why would i not?? i love your blog too so i had to follow back ahaha. im so glad your day was great!! and hey i just got back from unil too!! we had assembly today and i had been asked to play my drums to that was awesome :D  
Reply: thank you! that means a lot. besides 2 friends, no one has ever actually liked my blog ahahha. oh wow thats so cool!!! do you play for anything?? i play guitar but its just for fun 

From crrynmywywrdsn: same i have like 10 followers ahahahah except unlike you, i dont have any friends cry haha jk. I used to play in a band called goldfish but it didnt work out ahahah so now i just play for myself. its fun though :D hey thats cool!!  
Reply: join the club bro hahahaa. i only ever get notes from hollyturnedmeon and doitjustlikeyou and i mean ///ever./// awh thats sucky but at least youre having fun doing it by yourself. thanks!!

From doitjustlikeyou: that boy u and mike were freaking out about just followed both of us


	6. Chapter 6

The five months Luke had been on tumblr had been the best and the worst months of his life. His grades had dropped, his effort and motivation had gone from like 80% to 50%, and his sleeping schedule had become totally fucked up. On the other hand, though, Luke finally had more than one friend, and felt like he belonged. Ashton had joined ‘the squad’ soon after they had all entered a mutual follow. After that, the weren’t ‘the squad’ anymore. They were ‘CALM’ and they were exclusive. 

The only thing Luke was unhappy about was that his head and heart were completely and painfully confused. Michael, Calum, and Ashton were the best friends he had ever had. Even though he hadn’t met them, they all felt like home. When he talked to them, he felt happy and warm. He felt like he was cocooned in comfy blankets. He felt like there were butterflies in his chest. He felt like he was drinking the best hot chocolate in existence. He felt love. He felt IN love. And that was the problem right there. 

Luke hated it. He hated the fact that he was in love with someone who he had never even met. He hated the fact that he was in love with someone who seemed to already be in a relationship. He hated the fact that he was in love with someone who made him feel so comfortable but who couldn’t actually touch him. He hated the fact that he was in love with three someones.


	7. Chapter 7

From doitjustlikeyou: LUKEY BOY WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?? WE MISS YOU!!!!!

Luke sighed. He had taken a week off of tumblr for what he told himself was to study and get his normal life back on track, but he couldn’t deny the real reasons. He just needed a break to think about his feelings. That sounded totally girly, but guys have feelings, too!

Basically, during the week, Luke slept, cried, studied a little, realized he was in love with Calum, cried, eaten, realized he was in love with Michael, drunk 100 cups of coffee, slept, eaten, and realized he was in love with Ashton. 

When Luke had come back, he had 20 messages from Calum, Michael, and Ashton and had lost 2 followers, meaning his follower count was at 12 now. 

Reply: chill boi i have a life besides calm + study…. miss u 2

Calum replied a couple minutes later, and when he read it, Luke couldn’t help feeling bad. 

From doitjustlikeyou: oh well thats okay sorry  
Reply: no cal shit sorry i was kidding i just needed time away from the internet, yeah? 

From doitjustlikeyou: yeah i get it. but couldnt you have told us you were gonna disappear?   
Reply: im sorry cal

From doitjustlikeyou: its ok. u wanna skype??   
Reply: yeah give me a sex ill call u

From doitjustlikeyou: ill give u a sex ;)))

Luke blushed, ignoring the way his stomach did a cartwheel. He went to the bathroom and sighed at the sight of his hair. He hadn’t bothered to quiff in the morning since it was Saturday and he hadn’t gone out, but now he did a quick job of it, knowing the boys would force him to go on camera. He popped an annoyingly large pimple before going back to his room. 

He opened Skype on his laptop and selected the saved group CALM. Calum answered but the others didn’t pick up the call.   
“Hey, Lukey-poo,” Calum said, grinning widely. Luke grinned, blushing slightly at the nickname. He hated his stupid blushing genes, but was thankful it probably wouldn’t be visible over camera.   
“Dick,” Luke said and even he could hear the affection in his own voice.   
“Yeah, well. Shit, hold on, Ketchup wants to go out,” Calum said. He flashed Luke a bright smile before getting up to let his dog out of his room. 

Luke could see Calum’s body as he walked to the door and was, as he was every time he saw it, in awe. Calum’s body was toned, tanned, and fit, which you could see through the muscle tank, and he had a few tattoos which Luke kind of wanted to run his tongue over.

Calum returned to his seat, throwing Luke an apologetic smile.   
“So, what’s going on, Lucy?” Calum asked.  
“Not much, Calendar,” Luke said sarcastically.   
“Yeah, wanna tell me the reason reason you dropped off the face of the earth?” Calum asked with a raised eyebrow. Luke wanted to hang up.   
“Not really,” he said quietly. 

Luke could see Calum studying him and decided to busy himself with trying to call Ashton again. It rung a couple times before Ashton picked up.   
“Hey, guys! What goes on? Luke! Haven’t seen you in ages!” Ashton said enthusiastically with his signature sunshine smile.   
“Hey, Ash. Yeah, mate, sorry. Been good though?” Luke said. He didn’t feel the urge to hang up anymore. Ashton had that effect on him.

“Ignore me, why don’t cha?” Calum said and the other two laughed.  
“Sorry, Cal-Pal, but we Skyped the other day,” Ashton said.   
“You Skyped without me?” Luke asked, fake angrily.   
“Maybe if you were online you could have been in the call,” Calum winked and, no, Luke wanted to hang up again.

He was about to say something when Calum leant back in his chair and shouted something unintelligible. A moment later, Michael let himself into the room and sat on Calum’s lap.   
“Hey, missed you today,” Michael said. It was mumbled and Luke barely made it out.  
“Didn’t feel like going today. I’m ahead anyway in the only class I had today anyway,” Calum said and then he pressed a goddamn kiss to Michael’s cheek in apology. 

“Woah, guys, something you want to tell us?” Ashton joked.   
Luke laughed but Calum and Michael didn’t. He didn’t see why - Ashton was just joking. If they all knew each other, they would probably have platonic cuddle sessions and everything all the time. Even if Luke wished they weren’t platonic, but that’s besides the point. 

“Uh, way to hit bullseye, Ashy,” Michael said and Calum ducked his head.  
“Wait, what?” Luke said. He wasn’t laughing anymore.   
“Cal and I are dating,” Michael said. Calum’s head stayed down.   
“Holy shit, why didn’t you tell us before?” Ashton said excitedly. 

Luke didn’t say anything. He kind of felt like his heart had gone through a shredder. Two people he were in love with were dating each other. That kind of really sucked.   
“We had to figure some stuff out before we told you guys,” Michael said.  
“Yeah, like what? You figure it out?” Ashton asked.  
“Not really,” Michael said. “But we’re gonna try and make it work.”

Luke really wanted to know what the stuff was, but he couldn’t ask. Or. Well.   
“What was the stuff?” Luke said. He hated himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth.   
Michael just stared at the screen. Calum finally lifted his head and bit his lip.   
“We both have feelings for multiple people,” Calum said. “We had to make sure we could either stay faithful to each other or make it work.”

“Oh,” was all Luke said. He couldn’t help feeling hopeful even though he knew it was just wishful thinking. He didn’t pay attention for the next 20 minutes of the call since it was mostly Ashton telling any story that come to mind. Luke was just listening to his voice not the words, and imagining what it would be like to be in a relationship with Calum and Michael. Probably really fucking great, looking at the way they were smiling at each other and cuddling on camera. 

“Okay, so I was late for Mrs Brunner’s class and when it was over, she called me to her desk and was like, Ashton, you know the school’s motto, and she repeated it to me in her really boring voice like ‘hand and matter are knowledge’ or something and I was like urgh, but-”   
“‘Knowledge by hand and matter’” Luke cut Ashton off, correcting him by habit.   
“Wait, what?” Ashton said. “You know my school’s motto?”

Luke was kind of in shock.   
“Uh, guess so?”  
“Wait, what uni do you guys go to?” Calum asked. He hadn’t looked interested in the conversation before, but now he was sitting up with wide eyes.  
“University of New South Wales,” Luke and Ashton said at the same time. The all stared at each others pictures for a long time, not saying anything.

“Well. Holy shit. Calum and I go there, too,” Michael said after a while.   
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Calum said. “We’ve been friends for months and knew we all lived in Australia, so how the fuck did we not know we all went to the same uni? What the actual fuck. Honestly.”  
“Honestly,” Ashton repeated.

“You guys know what this means, right?” Michael said. He had worked past his shock and was smiling that extra-happy smile Luke loved.   
“We get to all meet!” Ashton exclaimed excitedly. 

“I still can’t believe this,” Calum said. “Do you guys know Home Roasting? The food place just down the road from school?”  
“Yeah,” Luke and Ashton both said.   
“Okay, do you guys wanna meet there?” Calum asked. 

“Yes!” Ashton said and Luke couldn’t help but laugh at how bright he sounded. Ashton was always happy but this was a whole new level.   
“Okay, cool. How about… now?” Michael said.

“Now?” Luke said. He hated the way he couldn’t keep the panic out of his voice.   
“Yeah, it’s only five thirty and Cal and I haven’t had dinner yet, so might as well… If that’s okay with you, Lukey?” Michael said.  
“We can do it another time, when you’ve had more time?” Ashton said and, yeah, that was the deciding factor. Luke would have to go. The disappointment on Ashton’s face told him that much.   
“No, shit, I can do it. Meet at six?” Luke said.   
“Okay,” everyone agreed, and Luke was the first to hang up.


	8. Chapter 8

After the call, Luke rushed back to the bathroom. His breathing was fast and he hated how flushed his face looked. He couldn’t help it. He was going to be meeting his best friends with barely any time at all to prepare. What if they hated him? What if they realized how awkward he really was and didn’t want anything to do with him? What if they all got along but left him out? Luke didn’t think he would be able to handle any of that happening. 

“No, it’s going to be okay. They already love you, and meeting in person isn’t going to change anything,” Luke told himself. He forced himself to meet his own eyes in the mirror and schooled his breathing.   
“You can do this,” Luke said before pushing off from the basin and returning to his room. He had already taken care of his hair so now he just needed to figure out what to wear. 

It shouldn’t be that hard, but ten minutes had passed by the time Luke had finally picked out his outfit. Black skinny jeans, his favourite ‘you complete me[ss]’ singlet, and a black beanie. It was too warm for a jacket. He grabbed his wallet and was about to walk about the door before he thought better of it and went to brush his teeth. He readjusted his beanie while he was in front of the mirror and was finally out of his place with ten minutes left to walk. He would have in time since he lived on campus and Home Roasting was close to the uni. 

He was right in his calculations and arrived at the restaurant at three past six. Peeking awkwardly into the window, Luke could see a head full of colourful hair - pale pink, the most recent colour Michael had dyed his hair. Beside him, Luke could see Calum and his heart was two seconds from giving out. The two boys were laughing at something one of them had said and were sitting extremely close. Michael’s hand was on Calum’s knee and Luke wanted so badly to be sitting in between them. 

“Luke!?” a voice from behind him said. Luke swirled around so hard that he tripped over his own giant goddamn legs and almost fell to the concrete sidewalk. A large hand saved him, though, gripping onto his upper arm. When he recovered, Luke looked up and was startled to see a face so close to his. It took him an embarrassingly long moment to study the features and figure out who it was. 

Ashton’s eyes were even more stunningly expressive in person. He was grinning and Luke and his smile was so infectious and beautiful that Luke couldn’t help but smile back. Ashton’s hair was barely kept from flopping in his eyes by a red bandana and he looked so freaking ridiculous but so obnoxiously good and Luke felt his butterflies and nerves disappearing. 

“Hey,” Luke said finally. Ashton had been studying him as much as he had Ashton.  
“Hi,” Ashton said. His voice sounded just as happy as he looked.   
“You wanna go inside?” Luke said.  
“Yes!” Ashton said. He removed his hand from Luke’s upper arm - he hadn’t even realized it had still been there until it wasn’t - and Luke couldn’t help the flood of disappointment that hit his stomach at that. It left a couple seconds later, though, when Ashton grabbed his hand. Luke looked at their linked hands in shock and then Ashton was dragging him inside the restaurant. 

A bell jingled when they opened the door and Luke saw Michael and Calum turn to look at them. Michael’s cherry lips split into a smile so wide Luke was sure his face was going to rip in half, and Calum - well, Luke knew why Michael called Calum ‘puppy,’ sometimes. Calum stood up, so excited you could practically see a tail wagging. 

“Luke! Ash! Hi!,” Calum said and Michael laughed at his boyfriend, standing up too. Ashton didn’t let go of his hand, instead pulling him towards their friends table.   
“Hey,” Ashton said and he sounded so happy and nervous at the same time that his voice was barely a squeak. Luke gave his had a reassuring squeeze and Ashton shot him a grin. 

“I still can’t believe this. It’s fucking crazy,” Calum said before pulling Luke into a tight hug. Ashton let go of his hand but he didn’t mind, because Calum was hugging him. He smelt like cinnamon and Luke buried his head in Calum’s shoulder. Calum was just as squishy as he looked and Luke never wanted to let go. Calum felt the same way, if the tight way he was squeezing Luke’s shoulders was anything to go by. 

After a minute, though, they both pulled back. As soon as Luke was out of Calum’s arms, he was being pulled into Michael’s Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ashton doing the same to Calum. Michael smelled like chemicals, due to his freshly dyed hair, a harsh contrast to Calum, but somehow it worked and Luke was digging it. 

“Hi,” Michael whispered into Luke’s ear before snuggling into his neck. He was warm and his wild hair was tickling Luke but he couldn’t have been happier. Luke was sure he had imagined the quick kiss Michael gave his neck before they pulled back.

“So, I’m gonna go order,” Luke said quickly. He was sure he was blushing. Who did Michael think he was!? A cutie pie, that’s who.   
“Yeah, me too,” Ashton said after he and Calum pulled apart.   
“We ordered nachos for four, that okay?” Michael said. They already had their drinks.  
“Hell yeah,” Ashton said appreciatively, before grabbing Luke’s hand again and pulling him to the counter. Ashton was going to have to stop doing that if he wanted Luke to stay alive.

The restaurant was owned by an elderly couple and kind of doubled as a coffee shop. It was cute and pretty inexpensive, perfect for uni students.   
“Uh, can I please get a latte with a caramel flavour shot?” Luke asked. He hoped to god this shop did that kind of thing because he hadn’t ordered that before and wasn’t sure.   
Apparently they did, and Luke payed for his order. Ashton ordered a straight black coffee, much to Luke’s surprise, and they hung out at the counter waiting. 

Once they had their orders, they headed back to the table Calum and Michael were sitting at.   
“A flavour shot of caramel? Fancy, aren’t we, Luke?” Michael said with a smirk. Luke hit him playfully on the shoulder without really thinking about it.  
“Shut up, it’s yum. Try it,” Luke said and he thrust his drink in Michael’s face. Michael scrunched up his nose and shook his head.  
“Sorry, mate, don’t drink coffee. I’m fine with my basic ass hot chocolate over here,” Michael said, giving his cup a weird pat. 

“Michael’s a spoil sport. Pass it here, Lukeyboy,” Calum said. He took Luke’s drink and took a sip. Calum pursed his lips and looked at the roof, as if he was making a careful decision.   
“Not too bad,” Calum said finally, handing the drink back to Luke.   
“That’s all? God, you guys are so unappreciative of the finer things in life,” Luke said.   
“Ha, yeah, whatever,” Calum said. 

“What do you have, then, Cal?” Ashton said.   
“Flat white,” Calum said.  
“Black,” Ashton said.   
“I’m pretty sure our drink choices are total opposite of what they’re supposed to be,” Michael said with a laugh. 

After that, the boys fell into a smooth conversation. It was almost as if they were just talking online or skyping. The only difference was that every few minutes, Luke would be struck by how beautiful his friends were. When Ashton talked, not only his words, but also his eyes and his hands helped tell the story. It was interesting watching him and whenever Ashton spoke, Luke felt himself completely enthralled. 

Calum was always nodding, agreeing with things. His neck was defined and Luke wanted to lick it. He didn’t say that much, instead only talking to insert a comment here and there in one of Michael’s stories. When Calum did talk, his voice was unexpectedly soft most of the time. He constantly cuddled up to Michael’s side which Luke thought was incredibly cute. Calum had told Luke he was a cuddler before, but he hadn’t really thought about it. 

Michael had an arm wrapped around Calum’s shoulder, but that didn’t stop him from talking with his hands, just like Ashton. Michael made dirty jokes and used song lyrics in conversation and Luke never wanted Michael to stop talking. Whenever neither Luke nor Michael were talking, if Michael caught Luke’s eye, Michael would stick his tongue out at Luke, every time, no fail. Luke could think of a few things to do with that tongue. 

Even though Calum and Michael were together, they didn’t make a big show of it, and they actually seemed to interact with Ashton and Luke more than they did with each other. It wasn’t much of a deal, though, considering it was probably because they saw each other almost every day, and this was their first time meeting Luke and Ashton. 

“So, I came home, and Calum was with some girl, and I was like ‘woah, why wasn’t I invited?’ but the girl wasn’t into it, so she left, and then Calum was like, ‘if you really wanted, we could…’ and I think that was his way of admitting that he totally wanted to bang me, so,” Michael said.   
“Wait, you were ready to have a threesome?” Ashton said with a laugh.   
“Yeah! If you had the chance to have sex with your totally smoking hot crush and a bangin’ chick, wouldn’t you be up for it?” Michael said in a strangely enthusiastic voice.  
“Besides, both of us have made it clear before that we’re up for polyamorous relationships,” Calum said.

“Wait. What,” Luke said, choking on his drink. Ashton slapped him on the back and Luke coughed a couple times, trying to catch his breath.   
“Yeah, sorry, um,” Michael said.  
“What, no, don’t be sorry. Just, shit. Sorry. It’s complicated,” Luke said. He wished from the bottom of his heart that he hadn’t said that last part.  
“Complicated?” Calum said with a raised eyebrow. 

“Um. Yeah. Just. I’ve thought about it, before. Polyamory,” Luke said. He only realized just as he said that that it was the truth. He hadn’t thought before about how his thoughts about Michael, Calum, and Ashton pointed towards polyamorous tendencies. But, now, he realized that he wanted to be in a relationship with all three boys, and he wanted it badly.   
“Weird,” Ashton said. 

“Weird?” Michael asked.   
“Yeah, like, it’s not really that common, is it? And here we are, four polyamorous boys,” Ashton said.  
“Funny way of coming out,” Calum said with a laugh.   
“Thanks,” Ashton said smiling. 

That conversation ended, and they moved on, not bringing it up again. Luke kind of wanted them to, but he was also grateful they didn’t. Even if they all were into that sort of thing, there was no way they would be into Luke himself. 

“Yeah, okay, but Luke would definitely die first if there was a zombie apocalypse,” Michael said.  
“Why me? You’re the unfittest out of all of us!” Luke said, defending himself.  
“Rude,” Michael said. They all knew it was totally true though, so Michael gave Luke a wink. “And you would die first because you’re the sweetest. You would sacrifice yourself for us.”  
Luke couldn’t find a sound argument against that. 

“Michael’s talking about zombies. Time to call it a night,” Calum said.   
“Urgh, yeah I have class at eight,” Ashton said.  
“Why didn’t you say anything, Ash? It’s late!” Luke said.  
“Ahhh, see. Sweet little Lucas. Have fun getting eaten by zombies,” Michael said.  
“Dick,” Luke said. He hit Michael upside the head and they left the restaurant.


	9. Chapter 9

Calum lived in an apartment a couple blocks away and Michael was staying with him the night, but Ashton said he lived on campus, too, so they parted two ways. Luke shivered. He hadn’t really considered that it would be cold when they went home even if it wasn’t cold he first went out.   
“Are you cold,” Ashton asked.   
“No, I’m fine,” Luke said. The way he wrapped his arms around his body didn’t make that statement very believable.   
“Yeah, you are,” and before Luke could argue, Ashton was taking off his plaid overcoat and handing it to Luke.   
“Ash-”  
“Take it, Luke,” Ashton said.

“Fine,” Luke said. He tried to make his voice sound unhappy, but he was really on cloud nine. “Who’s the sweet one now?”  
“You’re still the one getting bit by a zombie, Luke, don’t try and pass this onto me,” Ashton said with a giggle. Luke really liked his giggle.

They walked in silence for a while until they passed a park.   
“You wanna…?” Ashton sounded unsure, like he thought Luke would laugh at him for wanting to play at the park.  
“Yeah. Swings?” Luke said. He loved the swings.  
“Yes!” Ashton said. He seemed to say ‘yes’ a lot. 

They walked through the park, which was empty since it was dark and late, and sat on the swings. After they got their momentum going, Ashton spoke.   
“I have a sister named Lauren and a brother named Harry. I love them more than anything. I wasn’t gonna go to college because I wanted them to be able to go, but I got a half scholarship for music - drumming. Mom insisted on paying some of the money and I have a job to help pay for the rest,” Ashton said. Luke stayed silent for a long time. 

“I have two older brothers. They bullied me mercilessly, but when it came to it, they wanted me to be the one to have a uni tuition, so they gave me the college fund. My mom’s a math teacher so she’s just glad one of us went for further education. I’m not sure uni’s really me, though. Like, I’m glad that I’ll have more options in life and stuff, but I’d rather be out there, living life, making music, then studying, and sticking to school for longer than I have to, you know?” Luke said. 

This was more information than either of them had given each other over the internet. For one, they hadn’t mentioned uni - obviously, - and, two, they hadn’t really dug into the more deep, personal stuff like family. 

They swung quietly after that, not really needing to say anything. The night air was crisp and cold, and Luke’s cheeks were red and raw from hitting the wind with every swing. Ten minutes later, Ashton slowed his swinging to a stop and Luke copied. Ashton stood up and stood in front of Luke who was still sitting in his swing.

“Your cheeks are pink. It’s cute,” Ashton said and he bopped Luke’s nose.  
“S-stop,” Luke giggled.   
“Sorry, couldn’t help myself,” Ashton said sheepishly.   
“‘s alright,” Luke said as he stood up.

Standing up was a horrible, terrible mistake because Ashton hadn’t moved back and their chests were pressed against each others and Ashton was smiling, goddamn smiling, and Luke couldn’t breathe.

“Hi,” Ashton said, and then he was leaning forward, brushing his lips lightly over Luke’s, as if waiting for confirmation. Luke didn’t say anything, just jutted his chin out so the pressure of Ashton’s lips on his was harder and then they were kissing and now Luke really couldn’t breathe. Ashton’s nose was brushing against Luke’s cheek and it was a sweet kiss, until Ashton ran his tongue over Luke’s bottom lip and nipped at his lip ring, and, okay, Luke really didn’t expect that. 

Luke squeaked and pulled back, eyes wide in shock.   
“Sorry, did I do something wrong?” Ashton asked quickly.   
“No, no!” Luke said. “Just. Wasn’t expecting that.”  
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Ashton laughed. Ashton’s eyes were boring into his and Luke swears to God he could see Ashton’s soul exposed through those hazel eyes. 

“You, uh, ready to go home?” Ashton asked quietly. Luke nodded, unsure if his voice would work, and Ashton took his hand again. He really, really needed to stop that but he should never let go of Luke’s hand. They left the park and Luke was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the thumb rubbing circles onto his hand. It felt pretty real and made Luke swoon. 

Since the restaurant wasn’t that far from campus, and the park was about halfway between, it only took Luke and Ashton a couple minutes to reach where they had to split.   
“I’ll talk to you tonight, or tomorrow, or I dunno,” Ashton said. He sounded nervous and it pleased Luke to know he wasn’t the only one.   
“Yeah, yeah,” Luke said.  
“Okay,” Ashton said. “And I’ll see you soon!” 

Ashton’s sunshine smile returned as he said that. It excited Luke, too - he could actually see his friends! He wouldn’t have to describe them to his mom as ‘internet friends.’ Just as Luke went to pull his hand away from Ashton’s, Ashton tiptoed for another kiss. It was brief just Ashton pressing his lips against Luke’s for a second, but it made Luke feel like he died and went to heaven.   
“Bye, Luke,” Ashton said when he pulled away, and then he let go of Luke’s hand and bounded in the opposite direction Luke was going.   
“Bye, Ashton,” Luke said to himself.


	10. Chapter 10

Luke took selfies of himself for a straight fifteen minutes trying to take one where he looked super, uber hot. Finally he settled on one and uploaded it.

  
thnx 4 the jacket ;) best bf ever  
(tagged: doitjustlikeyou, hollyturnedmeon, crrynmywywrdsn, calm squad)

crrynmywywrdsn replied to your post: thnx 4 the jacket ;) best bf ever  
[ luv u <3<3<3 boyfies 4ever  
(tagged: sugarwewentdown, doitjustlikeyou, hollyturnedmeon, calm squad)

hollyturnedmeon replied to crrynmywrwrdsns post:luv u <3<3 <3 boyfi....  
[ keep your flirting out of my tag jfc  
(tagged: doitjustlikeyou, crrynmywywrdsn, sugarwewentdown, calm squad)

Luke kept Ashton’s jacket on all day. It wasn’t weird. It was just warm and nice and smelled like Ashton. When he skyped Calum for a while - only Calum, a rare occurrence, - Calum teased him about it but Luke didn’t mind.

(‘Look’s like you’re not mine anymore, penguin I have to share you.’)

Luke hadn’t stopped being confused and happy about that one sentence since it had left Calum’s mouth hours ago. Now, he was sitting on his laptop, nothing unusual, multitasking reblogging pictures of Jalex and trying to write his musical history essay.

From crrynmywywrdsn: we should all meet up soon and u can give me back my jacket  
Reply: yeah talk about it when we skype later tonight?

Luke assumed that even though they know knew they lived close, they wouldn’t give up their nightly skype, especially not without someone - Michael - going ‘what’s the point, I’m too lazy.’

Luke was right and at 10:30, the saved skype group ‘CALM’ rang him. He had prepared earlier this time, and didn’t have to run and fix his hair. It was just Michael and Luke received one of his lazy smiles.  
“What’s up, Hemmo,” Michael said.  
“Not much, Cliffdog,” Luke said,  
“Dickhead,” Michael said, fake glaring into the webcam.  
“You love me,” Luke teased.  
“Too much, I think, sometimes,” Michael said.

Luke didn’t have time to be confused over that because Ashton entered the call.  
“Where’s Calum?” was the first thing Ashton said.  
“He’ll be here in a sec, he’s just checking something out,” Michael said.  
“Okay. Luke, I was thinking…” Ashton said.  
“Yeah…?” Luke said.  
“One time you said you knew how to rap ‘lose yourself,’” Ashton said.  
“Oh shit,” Luke said.

Luke was halfway through the verse when Calum joined the call. Luke finished with Calum screaming ‘what the fuck.’ He grinned sheepishly at the camera while the boys stared at him in shock.  
“How do you know that?” Ashton exclaimed eventually.  
“Just do,” Luke said, winking.

“Okay, so that’s a thing that just happened,” Calum said. For once, he wasn’t with Michael, instead in his own room, on his own skype account.  
Luke laughed with embarrassment.  
“So, it’s only 10:30, and I have beer and some vodka. You guys wanna come over?” Calum asked.

Michael agreed straight away, obviously, and Luke and Ashton didn’t see why not. They got directions from Calum and made plans to meet up at the park they had been at last night.

Luke wore black skinny jeans - they were the only pants he owned, okay - a plain black shirt. It was night, but he was still that idiot who wore a snapback. it was maroon, the only colour in his outfit, and he wore it backwards. He held Ashton’s jacket in his hands, not wanting to wear it.

As soon as Luke was outside, though, he decided that was a stupid thing not to do and put it on. The air was chilly and the cold wind cut straight through Luke’s thin layers of clothing. He tugged the edged of the jacket around himself as he wanted to the park.

When he got there, Ashton was swinging slowly on the swing. Luke stood under a streetlight and called out to Ashton. He had to wait a minute for Ashton to get off the swing and make his way over.  
“Cold?” Ashton teased, pinching at his jacket.  
“Shut up. I didn’t mean to wear it, but I didn’t realize it was so freaking cold,” Luke said.  
Ashton laughed and hugged his own hooded denim jacket to himself.

They walked in silence for a bit. Calum’s apartment was about ten blocks away. Not too far, but far enough.  
“So, what do you think of Calum and Michael?” Luke asked after a while.  
“What do you mean? I love them. We’re best friends, right?” Ashton said.  
“Yeah, but I mean, like, what do you think of them together. Like, dating,” Luke said.  
“Oh,” Ashton said, and neither of them said anything else.

“I think that they’re perfect for each other, but that they both need more. I dunno. It’s hard to explain. And I’m kind of jealous of them, but I can’t figure out which type of jealous,” Ashton said when they were almost at Calum’s. Luke didn’t really understand, but he was still pleased with the answer.

They didn’t say anything for the rest of the walk, but Ashton’s elbow kept hitting into Luke’s. Every time it did, Luke would blush and look at the ground. Calum’s apartment was on the fourth floor of a shitty complex. Luke and Ashton went to two different apartments before they found Calum’s.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;)))

They knocked on the door - loudly, since All Time Low was playing loudly - and waited. After a minute, Michael opened the door with a wide smile on his face and a beer in his hand.  
“Mates!” Michael exclaimed loudly. “Come in!”  
Luke wasn’t sure if Michael was already drunk. He doubted it. Michael was probably just on one of his sugar highs that he had every couple of days. Mix that with alcohol, Luke wasn’t surprised Michael was extremely energetic or high or whatever the hell he was.

Calum was sprawled on his couch, legs dangling off the edge. Luke tried not to look at the midriff that was exposed, Calum’s Sleeping With Sirens shirt riding up.  
“Took you guys long enough, it’s like eleven now,” Calum said without moving.  
“Not our fault your apartment is fucking far away,” Ashton said, sitting down on top of Calum’s thighs. Luke didn’t miss the way Ashton’s hand moved to automatically caress Calum’s left thigh in a way that should be awkward but totally wasn’t.

“Beer?” Michael asked and he chucked one at Luke before he could say anything. Luke barely caught it in time, scowling as he watched Michael chuck one at Ashton, too. The can hissed when Luke opened it, and he took a long swig. Ashton did the same. Luke thinks Calum and Michael were already on their second one.

Once the awkwardness of ‘I know we’re best friends but ¾ of us don’t really even know each other what the hell are we supposed to do’ wore off, the boys ended up sitting in a circle on the floor, each with their third beer in their hand. Calum had gotten out some Mountain Dew, cups, and the vodka he had promised, but for now, they were sitting untouched beside Michael.

They weren’t drunk, but had drunk enough to feel buzzed. Luke was pretty sure he was on a higher level than the others. He didn’t have the best alcohol tolerance.  
“So what’s your story, Luke?” Michael said.  
“What? You know. Three brothers, mom and dad, bad at maths, good at guitar,” Luke said.  
“No, no, no,” Michael said, and his words were ever so slightly slurred. “Deepest darkest secrets and desires and all that shit.”

“Oh,” Luke said. He really couldn’t think of anything. He wasn’t sure what kind of stuff Michael was looking for.  
“Fine,” Michael said after Luke didn’t say anything more. “Cal, what about you? Besides the fact that you love having your dick up my ass.”  
Ashton covered his ears, singing ‘la la la’ as loud as he could. All Luke could do was laugh because the whole situation was ridiculous.

“Well…” Calum said with an exaggerated wink aimed at Luke. Instead of continuing, he poured himself a vodka and mountain dew, sculling half of it straight away. “I have an overstimulation kink. So I really like the idea of lots of hands on me at once.”  
“Lots of hands?” Michael asked. He sounded calm and his words were smooth. Luke kinda thought they sounded maybe almost practiced.  
“Lots of hands. More than one pair at a time, Mikey,” Calum said.

Luke coughed violently.  
“Uh, so you guys wanna play a game?” Calum said warily, eyeing Luke.  
“Yeah,” Ashton said enthusiastically.

“Never Have I Ever or Spin the Bottle?” Michael asked. Luke swears to God these boys were trying to kill him.  
“Never Have I Ever, then Spin the Bottle,” Calum said, and yep, trying to kill him. No doubt in his mind.  
“Okay,” Michael said, and takes it upon himself to pour everyone a few shots worth of the vodka.

“I’ll go first,” Ashton said surprisingly. “Never have I ever… given a blow job in a public place.”  
Michael and Calum both take a sip and Luke’s face was bright red.  
“To each other?” Ashton asked.  
“Among others,” Michael winked.

“Never have I ever… come out to my parents,” Luke said.  
Michael complained about how lame it was, but all three boys took a sip.  
“Never have I ever been in a threesome,” Michael said. Only Calum took a sip.  
“What?” Calum asked defensively. “Have you guys never even thought about it?”  
“Oh, I never said I hadn’t,” Ashton said laughing.

Calum stared at Ashton as if he was trying to figure the boy out. After a moment, Calum gave it up and took his turn.  
“Never have I ever been caught in a goddamn love triangle or square or whatever,” Calum said.

Nobody moved. Not just nobody moved to take a sip, but nobody moved a muscle at all. They all just stared at Calum, who had gone very stiff. It confused Luke. Calum had agreed with Michael when Luke had asked his question, yet here he was coming out with something like this. Something like this which was also weirdly specific.

A decent minute later, Michael lifted his cup to his lips. Ashton followed suit, and after a moments hesitation, so did Luke. Calum brought his up and sculled it. Michael studied Calum worriedly before apparently deciding ‘fuck it’ and doing the same. Luke and Ashton shrugged at each other and drunk theirs too. Might as well be on the same level.

“Well, since we drunk all our shit, move to Spin the Bottle?” Luke asked when no one else said anything. He had tried his best not to sound eager, but he didn’t think he did a very good job.  
“Yeah,” Calum said. “Yeah.” He got up and found an empty beer bottle from another time - they had only been drinking out of cups and cans that night.

Calum placed the bottle in the middle of the circle and sat down. Luke tried to ignore the fact that when Calum moved fast, he looked blurry. The boys sat there for a minute, none of them wanting to make the first move. With a heavy sigh, Calum finally reached forward to spin the bottle. It was fast and Luke felt dizzy watching it spin. The bottle head passed Luke seven times until it finally slowed to a stop, pointing at Ashton.

Ashton’s eyes were trained on the bottle and he was biting his lip nervously. Nobody said anything, leaving Ashton to his apparent deep thoughts. After a moment, Ashton’s ducked head shot up and he made eye contact with Michael.  
“Hey, if it’s okay with you, mate,” Ashton said with a cheeky grin.  
“Go ahead,” Michael laughed. Luke could see the fondness and appreciation written on Michael’s face.

With the confirmation, Ashton scooted forward and Calum did the same. They were leaning over the bottle in the middle of the circle, Luke and Michael on either side of them. Their faces were close, and Calum brushed his nose against Ashton’s cheek. Ashton let out a nervous giggle and Calum angled his face upwards, his lips pressing against Ashton’s lightly. After that, all shyness from both boys disappeared, and their lips moved against each others eagerly. They pulled apart before it could turn into an open mouth kiss and Luke found himself feeling disappointed.

Ashton and Calum returned to their seats and Calum snuck a guilty look at Michael. It wasn’t necessary though, because Michael was grinning his lazy smile at Ashton, his eyes shining happily.  
“My turn, I guess,” Ashton said, and reached forward to spin. Luke held his breath and the bottle came to a stop pointing at Michael.

“Fair’s fair,” Michael laughed and scooted to his right, closer to Ashton. Ashton smiled shyly and moved so that his side was pressed against Michael’s. His kiss with Calum seemed to have given Ashton a confidence boost, and he reached out to hold Michael’s chin in his long fingers. Michael raised an eyebrow in amusement and Ashton giggled before pulling Michael’s chin forward softly so that their lips met in the middle.

As soon as their lips touched, Michael let out a soft whimper, and Luke felt like he was becoming undone. Luke could only see the back of Ashton’s head, but he watched Michael grab Ashton’s curls eagerly until the two boys pulled apart. They had lasted a little longer than Ashton and Calum.

When Ashton sat down, Luke could see Michael’s face. The boy was smiling widely, nodding at Calum. Luke was kind of confused about that, because ‘what,’ but he didn’t really think about it because he was too busy staring at Michael’s shining eyes, and Ashton’s kiss swollen lips.

It took Michael a moment to compose himself enough to spin the bottle. When he finally did, the bottle landed on Calum. Ashton groaned.  
“Boring!” Ashton said. “You guys probably make out all the time.”  
Calum laughed but scooted over to Michael anyway.

They sat nose to nose, grinning widely.  
“Hi,” Calum said.  
“Hey there,” Michael said, slurring his words slightly. Calum stayed still letting Michael take his turn. Michael’s tongue darted out to lick across Calum’s lips and Luke had to physically hold back a groan. Ashton looked the same.

After that, Michael leant forward to press his lips against Calum’s hotly. Theirs was the first kiss that involved tongue and when Calum honest to God moaned, Ashton had to pull them apart.  
“Feeling left out?” Michael asked with a smirk.  
“If anyone’s left out, it’s Luke,” Ashton said, jerking his head in Luke’s direction. The blonde boy immediately ducked his head.  
“Hopefully Lukey Boy will be landed on next then,” Calum laughed.

Calum spun the bottle, and Luke found it extremely unfair because that was his second turn and Luke hadn’t even had one. The bottle spun forcefully and slowed to a stop pointing at Luke. His eyes were wide as he stared at the head pointing obviously at him.  
“Oh,” Luke said.  
“Luke, if you don’t want to…” Calum said.  
“No!” Luke said quickly. “I do.”  
“Okay,” Calum said soothingly.

Calum crawled to the side so that he was sitting close to Luke. Luke stared into the brown eyes, lost in how passionate they were. He didn’t even notice Calum leaning in until Calum’s lips ghosted over his own. Luke sucked in a breath sharply, but didn’t pull back, so Calum moved forward so the pressure of his lips against Luke’s was heavy.

Calum moved his lips gently, and Luke copied, and it felt nice. Really nice. Like, super nice. Luke felt warm inside and he smiled into the kiss. Calum took this as an opportunity to run his tongue across Luke’s lips. Luke made an embarrassingly shocked squeak, but recovered quickly. He had just gotten used to Calum’s tongue on his own when a hot mouth tongued at his neck sloppily.

Luke pulled back slightly, his forehead resting against Calum’s cheek. Michael was sitting beside him, his pink hair tickling Luke’s neck slightly. He was alternating between open mouth kisses and sucking on Luke’s neck, and Luke was becoming undone very, very quickly. When Luke managed to get his breathing under control, Calum’s fingers found his chin and guided Luke’s lips to his own.

Luke heard Ashton whimper slightly, and then there was the click of a camera and Luke could see a flash go off even with closed eyes. Luke sprung back, confused and shocked. Ashton was sitting in front of them, holding his iPhone, with a guilty smile on his face.  
“Sorry,” Ashton said. “Couldn’t resist.”

Calum grinned and Michael laughed but Luke didn’t do anything. He was still kind of in shock at everything that had happened.  
“Since everyone’s gotten a taste of you, Luke, how about I get a go, and then we watch a movie or something?” Ashton said. All the colour left in Luke’s complexion drained but he wasn’t alone in that - Ashton sounded and looked just as nervous. “I mean, if you want. Then we can just wrap up the game,” Ashton added on quickly.

“Sure, yeah,” Luke said. Surprisingly, Luke took the initiative, and crawled over to Ashton. When he reached the curly haired boy, faces hovering right in front of each others, Luke remained on all fours. Ashton was smiling nervously, but his eyes were shining with want. Neither boy made the first move until Michael groaned impatiently. Ashton laughed and pressed his lips against Luke’s softly. His nose bumped into Luke’s awkwardly and they both giggled before adjusting.

Ashton’s lips were soft and Luke felt the same warmth that he felt when he had kissed Calum. They moved in sync and Ashton’s hand moved to grip Luke’s hair. It felt good - the slight tug, - and Luke moaned into the kiss. Ashton smiled against Luke’s lips before pulling back, looking pleased with himself.  
“Uhhh,” Luke said. He didn’t really think he was capable of forming full words.  
“Wanna watch a movie, now, then?” Calum said. His voice was slightly shaky, only slightly.

The boys ended up in a big pile on a couch meant for two watching the Harry Potter series with seemingly never ending hot chocolate and cuddles until they all fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

When Luke woke up, only Ashton was still cuddled into his side.   
“Ash?” Luke said groggily, poking Ashton in the side. The older boy shooed Luke away grumpily. Luke sighed and reached for his phone. He squinted at the screen, not able to make sense of it for a minute. He had a couple texts from Calum. When had he even gotten Calum’s number?

[from Cal-Pal] 8:27 am  
heyyy lukey good morning. mike and i had class so we left u some breakfast stuff out and theres a key on the table by the door if u or ash could lock up when the last of u leaves. no rush. if u 2 dont have anything to do, i dont mind if u hang around x :)

[From Cal-Pal] 8:29 am  
oh yeah btw the wifi password is mikeyhasanicebum ;) x

Luke laughed softly at the texts - so as not to wake Ashton - and texted Calum back saying he felt kinda lazy so he might stick around if that was okay. Calum texted back an affirmative and that he would be home in a few hours. Luke scolded Calum for texting in class before chucking his phone aside and gently pushing Ashton off of him so he could crawl off the couch.

Calum had left a couple cereals out, as well as an instant pancake mix. Luke was pretty sure he was in love with Calum. He added the water to the bottle, shaking it thoroughly. He had to sift through multiple draws to find a pan, getting yelled at by Ashton for making too much noise in the process.

Half an hour later, Luke had successfully made two stacks of pancakes. Ashton was sitting up on the couch, cuddled into himself, but he still looked fairly grumpy. Luke had to laugh to himself. Ashton seemed like the type of guy to be a morning person but apparently not. Maybe it was just the slight hangover Ashton had to have had. Luke had one himself, but had taken nurofen when he woke up and was feeling pretty okay. 

Luke grabbed what he could find for toppings out of the cupboard - cream, butter, golden syrup, maple syrup - and put a glass of water with nurofen beside Ashton’s plate.  
“Ash, come on,” Luke said. “I made breakfast.”  
“I know. You made so much fucking noise, it would be impossible not to know,” Ashton grumbled, but he stood up and made his way to the kitchen counter anyway.

“Thanks,” Ashton said and he sat down on one of the stools by the counter. Luke melted at how rough his morning voice was.   
“No problem, Ash,” Luke said the coffee machine he was trying to figure out.   
“You’re such a housewife,” Ashton said. “Calum, Mike, and I should keep you around just because you’d do whatever we’d say.”

Luke choked on air. He wasn’t sure how that was supposed to come out, but it sounded pretty damn sexual and it was too freaking early in the morning for Luke to be able to deal with that. Luke opted for not replying, instead focusing on making coffee. 

He made Ashton a straight black one and found a caramel flavour pod for his own, and put about ten spoons of sugar in it. With a second thought, Luke put some of the cream on top. Honestly, it was surprising Calum - a uni student living on his own - owned cream. His parents must’ve been supporting him quite heavily. 

Ashton smiled widely when Luke slid him his coffee.  
“You remembered how I take it,” Ashton said. Luke could hear the surprise and happiness in his voice.  
“Well, duh,” Luke said, deciding not to mention that it was only like a day ago or so that he had seen Ashton have a coffee.  
“Good job on the pancakes, too,” Ashton said, lathering his in cream and maple syrup.   
“Thank you,” Luke said proudly. And he had every right to be proud. The pancakes were perfectly golden and had no lumps.

The two boys sat there in silence for a while, eating their pancakes and sipping their respective coffees. Luke had cooked the entire bottle, which was meant for like, five people, so by the time they finished eating, they were both groaning and holding their stomachs in pain.  
“C’mon,” Ashton said, grabbing Luke’s hand and leading him to the couch so they could lie down lazily. Ashton pulled Luke on top of him, wrapping his muscular arms around Luke’s waist, and Luke tried hard not to squeal with happiness.

“Cal said we could stick around, if we wanted. He’ll be back in a few hours. Dunno ‘bout Mikey,” Luke said after he had wiggled into Ashton’s side comfortably.   
“Cool. I don’t have anything to do today,” Ashton said. He pulled out a phone and sent a text to someone.  
“You want the wifi password?” Luke asked before Ashton could put his phone away. Ashton nodded. “Mikey has a nice bum, no spaces or caps.”  
“Where is the lie,” Ashton said, tapping it into his phone. 

After that, Luke grabbed the tv remote and flipped through channels before settling in Dr. Phil and snuggling deeper into Ashton’s side. Ashton was soft and warm and smelled like stale alcohol and boy sweat but he somehow made it work. Luke never wanted to get up. Luke watched a couple episodes of Dr. Phil while Ashton messed around on his phone. Luke couldn’t see what he was doing, but no text notifications came in but Ashton was still laughing randomly, so Luke assumed he was on tumblr mobile.

Luke must have fallen asleep at one point, because it was suddenly 11 am. Ashton was still there, but he had put his phone away and his eyes were trained on the tv. Either Dr. Phil had finished, or Ashton had changed the channel, because Sleepy Hollow was on. Luke looked up at Ashton, the movement alerting the older boy that Luke was awake.

“Hey,” Ashton said, running his hand through Luke’s hair affectionately. Ashton ducked his head down a little bit, and Luke was all of a sudden self conscious about the fact that he hadn’t brushed his teeth since last night. Ashton smiled and pressed a kiss to Luke’s temple. Luke melted like butter and Ashton tightened his grip on Luke’s waist. 

Sleepy Hollow finished, not that either of them had really been watching it, just enjoying their closeness, and Ashton stood up, causing Luke to fall sideways with a grunt.  
“Dick,” Luke said, his voice muffled as his face was shoved into the couch.   
“Soz,” Ashton said, and Luke swore to God, if Ashton said that again, they were going to have an intervention.

“Ashton disappeared and returned a moment later with a tube of toothpaste. He chucked it at Luke before going to make them both another cup of coffee. Luke brushed his teeth with his finger, thankful that Ashton had read his mind. A few minutes later, Luke had breath as fresh as it was going to be, and a cup of his diabetes causing coffee, as Ashton so politely called it.

Ashton sat down on the couch slowly, so as not to spill his coffee. He was probably closer to Luke than necessary but neither of them minded. Luke took a sip of his coffee contentedly and lowered the cup to his lap. When he had steadied it, Luke looked over at Ashton who was staring at him.

“Hi,” Luke said, ignoring the instinct to look away or duck his head.  
“Hi,” Ashton said, and then he darted forward, pressing his lips against Luke’s softly. The kiss only lasted half a second, and then Ashton was pulling back, taking a sip of his coffee.

‘Oh.’ Luke thought. ‘It’s not just a drunk thing.’

“Wanna watch Madagascar? Calum has it recorded,” Ashton said. Luke agreed, and they cuddled, sipping their coffees, watching the movie until Calum and Michael arrived home.


	13. Chapter 13

Calum and Michael walked noisily into the apartment when the movie was almost over. They were holding hands and Michael especially looked adorable. Michael apparently hadn’t bothered dressing up today and as wearing yesterdays jeans, with an extremely oversized white sweater, and messy bed hair and looked untouched. Luke wanted to cuddle Michael so badly, with him looking like that. So he did.

Luke stood up, ignoring Ashton’s whining, and walked over to where Calum and Michael were still standing. he grabbed Michael’s arm - the one Calum hadn’t been holding - and tugged Michael away, over to the single sofa seat. Luke sat down, pulling Michael down on top of him. He wrapped his arms around Michael’s waist, like Ashton had done to him, and nuzzled his face into Michael’s back.

He could hear Calum laughing but ignored them both, indulging himself in Michael’s warmth and smell. Michael relaxed into his hold after a moment, adjusting himself so he was comfortably leaning into Luke’s chest. Luke hooked his chin over Michael’s shoulder, watching Calum plop down beside Ashton.

“You guys hungover this morning?” Ashton asked.  
“Yes, urgh,” Calum groaned. “Forgot we had class.”  
Calum settled down on the couch, scooting closer to Ashton then. Luke found it kind of weird that Calum hadn’t been opposed to Luke taking Michael from him, or that Michael hadn’t even tensed slightly at the sight of Calum curling into Ashton’s side. Maybe they were seriously thinking about the polyamorous thing…

The boys sat in comfortable silence, Luke and Michael cuddling, Ashton watching tv, and Calum pulling his laptop out from nowhere. Michael’s thumb was rubbing circles and Luke’s elbow gently.

“Ash, what the fuck?” Calum said after a while. His voice was loud - not angry, though - and startled everyone.  
“What?” Ashton asked innocently.  
“You posted that photo!” Calum said, turning his laptop to face Luke and Michael. From where they were sitting, Luke could just make out what he assumed was the photo Ashton had taken of him, Michael, and Calum last night.

Michael squinted at the screen before hopping off of Luke’s lap to get a better look. Luke trailed behind Michael, pretending he didn’t desperately want to see the photo. Calum steadied the laptop, setting it on his knees, and Ashton ducked his head, having the decency to at least act ashamed.

The photo was in black and white and made Luke’s heart skip a beat. Both his and Calum’s eyes were closed, Luke’s jaw jutting out in the air, exposing his neck. Calum’s face looked squishy and adorable, his lean fingers holding Luke’s jaw. Then there was Michael. Michael was sucked on Luke’s neck, eyes closed as well. Luke wanted nothing more than to make a shrine just for that photo. Or burn it maybe, because it was making him feel… things.

“Ash, I can’t believe you posted that,” Michael said after he seemed to have composed himself. He looked like he was having more of a problem than Luke was having.  
“Sorry, just, yeah, sorry,” Ashton said to the couch.  
“Dude,” Calum said.  
“What?” Luke said.

“Look at the notes!” Calum said, pointing to just underneath the photo. None of the boys had noticed since they had been too busy staring at the photo itself. The number read 247 notes.  
“That’s the most attention I’ve ever gotten,” Luke laughed.  
“Same here,” Calum agreed.

Ashton had tagged them all in the photo, as well as ‘calm squad,’ ‘boys,’ ‘boys kissing,’ and ‘gay.’  
“Way to advertise, Ashy,” Michael said. He had clicked on Ashton’s activity to look at the notes efficiently. It was mostly reblogged by lgbt+, hipster, and porn blogs, the occasional annoying ‘follow for similar ☮☮☮’ comment being added. Ashton had gained over 30 followers - ignoring the fact most of them were porn blogs - meaning that he had just gained more followers than the others had to start with.

“Fuck you, Ashton,” Calum said.  
“Love you,” Ashton shot back.  
Calum stared at Ashton, trying to hide his emotions. After only a couple seconds, he couldn’t hold it anymore, and broke out in a grin. Luke loved Calum’s grins. Like, yeah, his smiles were cute and hot, but when Calum grinned, his whole face scrunched up and crinkles appeared beside his eyes, and Luke loved, loved, loved it.

Something really must have been wrong with Luke, because he seemed to have no control. He grabbed the laptop off of Calum’s knees, passed it to Michael and sat on Calum’s lap. Calum froze underneath Luke for a moment, but before Luke could even register it or freak out, Calum seemed to relax and wrapped his arms around Luke’s stomach. Luke was extremely self conscious about his stomach, and would normally never let anyone near it, but he felt safe with Calum. Ashton curled into Calum’s side, and Michael leant against the clash of Luke and Calum’s legs, logging into his own tumblr. Because of his being tagged, Michael had gained 10 followers himself.

They boys stayed cuddling like that until Luke had to leave. Ashton stayed, and it didn’t even occur to Luke to be jealous until hours later. Even then, he strangely wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i know the manip doesnt perfectly match up but pls look at how perfect it is either way :))) credit goes to http://calyhood.tumblr.com/


	14. Chapter 14

Luke got home from his part time job at McDonalds seven hours after he left Calum’s place for his own to change. The first thing he did was take a nap. Even though his day had been mostly lazy, and then work hadn’t been that busy, Luke was still exhausted. He probably should have been studying instead, but. Yeah. No.

It was around 10 pm when Luke woke up, groggy from his nap. It took him a few hazy moments to remember what year it was. He had fallen asleep in his work clothes and smelled like meat and grease.

After a solid 5 minutes of just rubbing his eyes, and glaring at the wall because, goddammit, why was he still tired, Luke forced himself out of bed and over to his desk, where his laptop sat. Some textbooks were sitting beside it, but they were practically covered in dust, spines uncracked.

The screen of the laptop lit up, and Luke squinted angrily at it, his head protesting the bright light. Tumblr was already open but Luke had to refresh the page for it to actually function. He jiggled his leg impatiently. Finally, the blue of the website crawled its way down Luke’s screen until tumblr was fully loaded. He scrolled down the first few posts, reblogging one of Gerard Way, before going back to the top to check everything.

He had gained almost 50 followers since he last checked. He didn’t have any messages, but there was one new post in his tag. He clicked on it, expecting a selfie from his boys or something. The page loaded and Luke scrunched up his nose at the video. It was paused at the beginning, a shot of Calum’s apartment. A smile twisted its way over Luke’s face and he clicked play.

A song Luke immediately recognized as ‘hot in herre’ started playing. Someone who sounded like Michael whooped from behind the camera. Calum and Ashton walked through a door into the room and started dancing. ‘Oh, hell.’ Luke’s eyes were glued to Ashton’s hips, until Calum turned around. Calum sloppily shook his ass, his underwear exposed and Luke found himself amused and aroused at the same time. Ashton was laughing and copied Calum, both of them shaking their hips and asses for the camera. Calum walked over to Ashton, trying to hump him. Ashton laughed, and so did Luke. The video ended with Calum air humping and Ashton giggling his sunshine giggle.

Ashton looked so cozy, in what looked like a pair of Calum’s sweatpants, and a beanie, and it really worried Luke how good Calum was at humping stuff. He was so in love with these boys. 

The video had surprisingly over 200 notes. It was just two white boys dancing, but Luke guessed it was probably because they were cute, and it wasn’t like the video was boring or anything. Michael had posted it and tagged all the boys as well as ‘y u souldnt leave early lukey.’

Luke reblogged it with the tags ‘dance white boys dance,’ and ‘i leave 4 1 second,’ ‘1 stinkin second.’


	15. Chapter 15

crrynmywywrdsn reblogged doitjustlikeyou:   
every band wants to be like blink-182 and i mean can u blame them  
[tagged: i rlly dont blame them at all, calm]

From hollyturnedmeon: lucas u play guitar right? u mentioned it one time  
Reply: yeah i play y??? also pls dont call me lucas

From hollyturnedmeon: i play 2 and i was wondering if u wanted to jam or s/t. and ill call u wat i want pussyslut  
Reply: yeah!!!! i would totally be up for that mikey

From hollyturnedmeon: cool so u wanna come over now or what  
Reply: now?? oh shit yeah ok

From hollyturnedmeon: is that cool?? like ur not doing anything or whatever r u?  
Reply: no imbeing lazy i just wasnt expecting so soon but i can do that

From hollyturnedmeon: cool cool so i live at blackrose apartments floor 4 rm 12 its just around the corner from calums  
Reply: ill be there in like 20 minutes?? ill bring my guitar ok cool luv u <3

From hollyturnedmeon: luv u 2 lucas  
Reply: fuck u

Luke didn’t bother dressing up this time. He grabbed a beanie, shoved it on top of his unquiffed hair, and pulled on a slipknot t-shirt, but didn’t bother changing out of his black sweatpants, or doing anything about his hygiene, besides popping in a couple mints. He grabbed his acoustic guitar, and made his way over to Michael’s. 

It didn’t take him long to reach the building, since it was only just past Calum’s, and Luke found Michael’s apartment easy. He only had to wait a couple seconds after knocking until Michael opened the door. 

Luke would normally have noticed how cute Michael looked in his oversized jumper and skinny jeans - blue, not black, call the police! - but that wasn’t the case today. Instead, Luke was focused on Michael’s hair, which wasn’t pink anymore, but a bright red. And, god, was it Michael’s colour. 

After a moment of letting himself be stared at, Michael coughed, bringing Luke’s attention to Michael’s smirk and raised eyebrow.   
“Your hair,” Luke said. “It’s a different colour.”  
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Michael said, walking into his apartment. Luke took that as an invitation to come inside and closed the door behind him.

“When’d you dye it?” Luke said, taking in the apartment. It was pretty small, nothing special in itself, but it was decorated by endless band posters and dirty laundry, and was just so, so, Michael, that Luke couldn’t help loving it.  
“Yesterday,” Michael said. Luke frowned, noticing his voice was faraway. In his admiring of the apartment, Luke hadn’t noticed Michael disappear into the small kitchen. 

Michael came back out, holding two cans of coke, and a bag of m&ms. He set them down on the coffee table and went to get his guitar. It was in the corner of the lounge, and Luke hadn’t noticed before, but Michael had both an acoustic and an electric. Michael grabbed the acoustic guitar and flopped down on the couch, signaling for Luke to do the same. 

Luke sat down as close to Michael as he could comfortably be while holding a guitar and reached for a can of coke.  
“Um, who told you that was yours?” Michael said.  
Luke froze, his fingers hovering over the can, until Michael started laughing.  
“Chill, Lukey, I’m kidding. Course it’s yours. Help yourself, babe,” Michael said. Luke opened the can, and took a drink, using the can to cover his blush from being called ‘babe.’

“What can you play?” Michael asked when Luke put his drink down.  
“Uh, I guess I can play quite a few songs. Few Blinks, I’m pretty good at I Miss You, some A Day To Remembers, Green Day, All Time Low, that kinda stuff,” Luke said self-consciously.   
“Hey, same,” Michael grinned, and strummed the opening chords of I Miss You. Luke waited a count before joining in. The wide grin Michael shot Luke almost threw Luke off.

Taking a deep breath, Luke got ready to sing. Michael was looking at him expectantly, and it was coming up, and Luke was trying not to panic.  
“Hello there, the angel from my nightmare,” Luke sang. The way Michael’s face lit up made his heart ache. “The shadow in the background of the morgue.

“The unsuspecting victim in the darkness of the valley,  
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want,   
Where you can always find me,  
We’ll have Halloween on Christmas,  
And in the night we’ll wish this never ends,  
We’ll wish this ever ends.”

“Where are you, and I’m so sorry,” Michael sang. Luke’s head shot up from looking at guitar, and his fingers stilled. Michael kept singing, keeping eye contact with Luke.   
“I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight.”  
Michael’s voice was so raspy, perfect for punk rock songs, and it was so beautiful and Luke either wanted to cry, listen to it forever, or jump off a cliff.

Michael finished the verse, and Luke joined him for the rest of the song. Michael played the guitar out, and Luke just watched him completely in awe. Michael sounded amazing when he sung, but the way he played guitar was so loving and talented and hypnotizing. 

When Michael finished, he looked up, and Luke was 100% sure he wasn’t imagining the way Michael’s eyes flicked back and forth from his eyes to his lips. Luke was about to turn and take a drink, just so he could have something to do, when Michael leaned forward and pressed a quick, soft kiss to Luke’s lips. 

“Your lip ring is really nice to kiss,” Michael said, his face blushing hard enough to almost match his hair. Luke broke out into a grin, licking his lips subconsciously.   
“Thanks, Mikey,” Luke said. Then a thought occurred to him, and the smile was wiped off of his face. “What about Calum? Oh my god.”  
“Luke, please don’t freak. I couldn’t help myself, and I probably shouldn’t have kissed you just then, but trust me, it’s totally okay. Believe me, if you told Calum, he’d be okay with the kiss.... Just please don’t tell him, because he’ll be mad I couldn’t contain myself until we were gonna…” Michael trailed off.

Michael seemed so equally flustered and confident that Luke couldn’t help but believe what Michael was saying.  
“Okay,” he said, pleased when Michael visibly relaxed.  
“I’m just gonna go pee, okay,” Michael said, and he rushed off to what Luke supposed was the bathroom.

With Michael gone, Luke allowed himself to think about the kiss. It had been soft, barely there, but Luke still felt butterflies thinking about it. Michael’s lips were slightly chapped, but felt just as good as they looked. They made Luke’s head feel fuzzy.

Michael returned a couple moments with his hair even messier than it had been before - Like he had been running his hands through it.   
“So, I was thinking, like your voice is really fucking angelic, and we should film a cover or something,” Michael said, plopping down next to Luke. “You can even be the one to upload it, since I posted that stupid video of Cal and Ash.”

Luke bit his lip ring, contemplating it. He’s posted a couple solo covers before, but they were buried deep on youtube, where nobody could find them.   
“Sure,” Luke said eventually.   
“You wanna do If It Means A Lot To You?” Michael asked. “I love that song.”  
“Same, yeah, good song,” Luke said. 

“Okay, I just gotta…” Michael said, getting up. He grabbed his laptop and opened up his camera. “I specifically bought this laptop because its webcam is good and it has a good mic.”  
“Good life choices,” Luke said through a grin.  
“Thanks,” Michael grinned back, and there was just a whole load of grinning going on. “So, um, I was thinking, you could take the lead and just sing, and I could sing back up and play guitar?”  
“Yeah, that sounds good, yeah,” Luke said, even though he wasn’t the biggest fan of his own voice. It also made him kind of nervous that they didn’t plan out who was singing what.

Michael smiled, and pressed ‘record.’  
“Hey, this is Michael, this... Urgh, I’m Michael, this is Luke, and yeah,” Michael said and started playing. His guitar was really strong and Luke clapped along a little, waiting for his cue.   
The song went smoothly, much more than Luke expected. Just to make sure there weren’t any awkward pauses, Luke sung the whole time, and Michael occasionally sung softly alongside Luke. Luke ignored the way Michael seemed to stare at him during the entire thing. Michael played the last chord, and leant forward to quickly shut off the video. 

“Here, you can upload it,” Michael said, turning his laptop to Luke, after he had dragged the file to desktop and opened up chrome.   
“Thanks,” Luke said, logging out of Michael’s tumblr and into his own. The video took a few minutes to upload, and when it did, Luke captioned it ‘If It Means A Lot To You - ADTR - CALM cover.’ He tagged ‘a day to remember,’ ‘adtr,’ ‘calm squad,’ ‘hollyturnedmeon,’ and ‘cover.’ He didn’t bother tagging Ashton and Calum, since they would see it in their group tag, and only the first 5 tags showed up anyway.

After that, Luke and Michael put on Men in Black, and cuddled on the couch, until Luke had to leave a couple hours later. There might have been a few forehead kisses and content humming that went on during that time.


	16. Chapter 16

Two days later, Luke and Michael’s little cover had over 800 notes. They had both gained another 50 followers each. Calum and Ashton had pretended to be mad at them for filming a video like that without them, but you could tell they were really proud of their boys. Luke and Michael had also found out Ashton was pretty fucking rocking on the drums, which was a pleasant surprise, since, as they already knew Calum could play the bass, it was cool that they all played an instrument. 

Ashton had organized for them to have a jam session together at his place the next weekend and Luke was so excited he was practically pissing his pants. He just passed the time zoning out in his classes and sitting on tumblr the rest of the day. 

crrynmywywrdsn:   
everybody should have at least one person who can be described as ‘home’  
[tagged: mine, personal, calm squad]  
48 notes

Luke had never hit reblog so quickly in his life. He tagged it with ‘<3’ and ‘ash u dork.’ He liked it as well, because, he really, really liked it. 

‘Incoming call: Mikerowave’

“Shit,” Luke said to himself, running a hand through his unstyled hair. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and looked like he just woke up - because he did, - but he hit answer anyway.   
“‘Sup, Mike?” Luke said, stifling a yawn.   
“Awh, Lukey, you look cute. Morning,” Michael said.

Luke ducked his head for a minute, willing his blush to go away.  
“Whatcha doing? Didn’t take you for a morning person,” Luke said eventually.  
“You took right. I’m at Cal’s and he woke me up because he’s that kind of person. Urgh. Apparently Ash’s a morning person too and wants us to come to his. Like. Right now,” Michael said. 

“What? But it’s like,” Luke minimized the screen for a moment to check the time, “nine am. What the hell does he want to do?”  
“He told Calum he wanted to have band practice,” Michael said with a roll of his eyes.  
“Are you for real? We’re not even a band,” Luke said. He furrowed his brow, frowning.  
“Well, yeah, but we could be. We’re probably just gonna jam, and maybe film a cover if we sound any good though. See you in like ten minutes?” Michael said.  
“Wait, now?”  
“Yeah, now,” Michael said, and he hung up.

**Author's Note:**

> halfway through i realized they were too old for school so i just changed all the ‘school’s to ‘uni’ so sorry if its stuffed up. this isn't finished yet but i have enough to post what i have so far so oops  
> talk to me on my tumblr @ chameleonmikey xoxoxo


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